Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. – Oliver Wendell Holmes
Now that’s where the heart is. Even if you’ve just been gone a short time, your dog’s home is where you are, where their heart is. Where is your heart?
What does that mean?
This quote is, to me, about the difference between a physical location and an emotion. The quote says that where we love, that is our home. Put another way :
“Home is where the heart is.”
If it is a person or a location, then it is possible to physically leave. You can walk out of your residence to go to work. You can leave your lover and go do do something else. You have left with your feet. But where is your heart?
The quote concludes by reminding us that our hearts are still there, even though our feet may have left. The rest of us probably left with our feet, but our heart remains.
Whatever it may be that you love, your family, your friends, your country, your community, or even your favorite chair, you may have left, but your heart remains.
Why is remembering where your home is important?
Think about it for a moment and remember the times you’ve gone away, and then returned. Where was your heart while you were away? It hasn’t ever been difficult for me.
Even when you were away for a long period of time, somewhere other than where you wanted to be, where you loved to be, you probably remembered where your heart was every single day, right?
This isn’t about moping about, wishing you were home. This is about remembering where you are from, and what it means to you. Yes, you can pine for where it is you would rather be, but you are elsewhere for a reason. Stay focused and finish up what you’re doing.
By getting things done, hopefully you can hasten the day of return. The day your feet take you back to where your heart has been this whole time. Yes, it can be fun to do other things and be other places, but there’s no place like home.
Where can I apply this in my life?
This would depend on how often you are away, and for how long. For those with a dog, even though they stay at home, you and your heart are their home. When you leave, they want to go with. When you come back, their home has returned to them.
We leave our homes to go places all the time. But we usually don’t think of this quote when we do so. Why? Because of how short the trips tend to be. Just don’t tell the dog, right? It’s the longer trips which cause us to notice that our heart is elsewhere.
Long-time readers may remember that I’ve mentioned that my wife had to move to another city to follow the job market. We lived apart for two years, yet never forgot where our hearts were. Whether we went to visit her, or she came to us, when we were together, that place was home.
The quote is reminding us that while the word ‘home’ is typically a physical location, in the sense of this quote, it doesn’t have to be. It is where we are comfortable, it is where we are happy, it is where we want to be. It is where our love is, be it person, place, or thing.
For those who will be away for a while, even a weekend, remember where your heart is. Enjoy yourself, do what must be done, but remember your roots, your home. The longer the stay, the more it will be apparent.
You will suffer divided loyalties for this time. You will have to balance what needs to be done with what you’d like to do. Don’t forget why you are away, and be sure to get done what needs doing. But also don’t forget where you long to be. That is where the heart is.
A friend of mine really dislikes where she is living at the moment, and really wants to be in a different part of the country. But she doesn’t have the means to do so just yet. But her heart is clearly elsewhere. She has been away since she was a child.
In this case, the ‘where’ is the great wilderness and cooler temperatures of Alaska, rather than the desert South-West. Her feet took her away, but her heart remains elsewhere. And so it will be for a while, but she doesn’t forget where her heart is.
Where is your heart? It might be possible to have your heart in a geographical location, a place of immense beauty or peace. It might also be that your heart is in a house, with special memories. It might also be that your heart is with a special person, even if they are elsewhere.
But no matter how many ways your heart is being pulled, when you are there, you are home. Because home is where the heart is.
From: Twitter, @Quotes_on_Love
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/o/oliverwend108718.html
Photo by Mark Hillary
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those are very pretty words. thank you to giving as those words
Thanks for stopping by and for leaving such a kind comment.
Many areas of philosophy are discussion of whether a thing — religion, for example — is a set of rules and dogma or that thing that is most central to our real “center.” Whatever the answer may be, I’ve never found it.
I’m not sure there is an answer. But the search strengthens us, and builds our minds and our spirits. And that, to me, is a worthy endeavor.
The answer is a deep relationship with Jesus. Jesus tells us that when we seek Him with our whole heart that we will find Him. Jesus is a Spirit; we are a Spirit (only living in a body). When our Spirit communes with Jesus’ Spirit, that is when we are complete. We must work at this communing just as regularly and as determined as we seek earthly things. Knock(pray, talk to) seek and ye shall find me, Jesus said in His word. This we must chase after as we would chase and seek after a sweet love on this earth. When we seek after Jesus with our whole hearts as we would a true love, that’s when we will find and obtain that sweet Spirit to Spirit communion our void-less souls long for. That’s the answer, the fulfillment we seek.
Thanks for stopping by and for leaving a comment.
That is an excellent way for a Christian to view things. People with different belief systems come to a similar result via different, but similar, methods. We are many people, and have many paths. Thank you for sharing yours.
I have tears in my eyes, thank you. You are amazing.
Those are very king words. You are very welcome. I’m glad you visited, and that you got something useful out of the post.